Millions of individuals regularly play ice hockey either as a recreational pastime or professionally. Ice hockey is a very popular sport in North America. As is known in the art ice hockey is a team sport wherein each team fields players that play in the following positions: defensemen, right wing, left wing, center and goalie. The latter position, goalie, is considered to be the most difficult position as it is the goalie's job to end the net and inhibit the opposing team's puck from entering. The goalie will utilize specialized gear such as but not limited to blockers secured to there arms in order to successfully play the position. The goalie further utilizes a specialized stick in order to play the position.
A standard hockey stick consists of a shaft integrally formed with a blade wherein the shaft is a consistent width across its entire length. The hockey stick for the goalie is manufactured differently wherein the shaft includes an upper portion and lower portion wherein the lower portion includes integrally formed flanges on opposing sides thereof to form a greater width to assist in blocking of the puck. This lower portion is commonly referred to as the paddle. The upper portion of the shaft is consistent with a conventional hockey stick. One problem with the conventional hockey stick is the shaft does not promote the most ergonomic holding position and as such intrinsically slows the reaction time of the goalie. A conventional hockey stick requires that a goalie must maintain an angled wrist position of the hand/wrist engaged with the upper portion of the shaft. This can be uncomfortable for the goalie during long games and further lead to reduced reaction times.
Accordingly, there is a need for a hockey stick designed for a goalie wherein the upper section of the paddle is designed to ergonomically receive the fingers of the hand of the goalie at an angle that promotes a wrist angle that is substantially straight.